Present
Two days ago, when my brother and his girl were late getting to our dad’s, we figured this would be the new norm since they’re a new couple and all that.
Or old couple?
Rekindled?
Oh, who the fuck cares, that’s not the point right now.
The point is that after we realized no one could reach them, knowing that there was no way in hell they would miss the chance to meet their niece, we figured something must have happened to them. That whoever has been fucking with them must have finally caught up to them.
And that they did.
Izzy reviewed the footage on the city’s traffic cameras, following them to find they were ran off the road and loaded into the back of a van. We couldn’t see their injuries on the camera, but they both seemed to be unconscious.
Needless to say, we’ve been using the entire power of our organization—along with O’Brien’s—to try and track them down. We contacted Finn as soon as we found out what happened, and after a long stream of curses, he told us to do everything we could on our side of things while he used his connections within the other organizations to find out everything he could. Now we’re about to sit down with him to get an update, fully anticipating the blame of this shitstorm since his sister was under Romano protection when she was taken.
One of our men leads Finn and his second in command into my father’s office and closes the door behind him, leaving him to stare at each of us. The last time we had a meeting, we had it here because he was bringing Sloane with him. This time it’s because one day we’ll be calling each other family so we might as well go all out.
Christ, this is so fucking weird.
“What did you find?” my father asks, not fucking around. Finn grunts before taking a seat on the sofa opposite us, his friend following in his footsteps like a little lost puppy. The guy is a fucking tank, a complete contrast to Finn’s slim build.
“Not a lot,” Finn mutters before gesturing towards Izzy, who’s sitting in the corner of the room. I swear, if this asshole looks at my wife for even a second too long, I won’t hesitate to decapitate him—new addition to the family or not. “I do have a gut feeling about something, though. Can I see the recording of them being taken? It was just the one guy?” he asks and takes a folded picture from his pocket, opening it up and placing it on the table between us.
Me and my dad lean forward to take a look. My father must recognize the guy in the picture because he makes a humming noise in the back of his throat and says, “You think it’s your uncle?”
“You know him?” Finn asks, visibly shocked, and my dad nods.
“Yeah, I’m the reason he was kicked out of your family.”
So if my dad is the reason, then he probably blames us…
Izzy comes over and takes the picture from the table before returning to her spot in the corner, completely ignoring Finn’s request of looking at the footage.
“You think he knows that?” Enzo adds from where he’s been standing near the door on his phone. He’s barely put it down in the last two days, constantly watching Robyn and Lilliana on the cameras he has installed around his place.
I don’t blame him, if I’m honest. If Izzy wasn’t here with me, I’d be doing the same thing.
Enzo decided to put his wife and newborn daughter on lock down in their home—guarded by an ungodly amount of our men and with Beatrice there to help her with Lilliana, since she basically helped raise us—just in case this guy decides to go after them. And while he is focused on finding our brother, his own family is also his priority.
Just like Izzy is mine.
And just like Sloane is Marco’s.
I still can’t believe that my younger brother had been in love with the girl for years and I had no idea. I honestly thought he was just a surly asshole by default, and it fucking kills me to know that I wasn’t there for him when he needed me. It hurt when I found out that he’d kept something so important from me for so long, but I guess I can’t really blame him. I was a different man back then, before I met Izzy, and I can’t say I’m certain I would have understood.
“I don’t know, I was young when everything went down. Too young to really remember much about him.”
“He knows,” my dad states. “I caught on to the fact that he’d been swindling off the top of the earnings your family was making from my deal with your father, so I told Cormac before it got turned around on me. I never saw him again after that.”
“So, this could be about you?” I ask. “He could’ve been wanting to bring our family down the entire time and was just using Sloane as a small part of the bigger picture?”
Dad thinks it over for a second before slowly shaking his head. “Nolan was always a power-hungry asshole. If anything, he’d want the O’Brien empire under his thumb, so he’s probably using Sloane as a way to get to Finn while also trying to hurt me by targeting Marco.”
“Exactly. Which is why I want to see the recording,” Finn mutters, sending a glare Izzy’s way. My father’s hand lands on my forearm before I can get up and shoot the fucker.
“No need,” Izzy says, completely ignoring the tension that was building. “It’s him.”
She approaches us and seats herself on the arm of the sofa next to me. I rest my arm around her waist, pulling her closer to me.
“I ran the picture through a software I created, aging it a little in the process, and what it gave me matched the guy who ran them off the road and put them in the van. He’s our guy. He’s who has them. I need an hour or so to dig up everything I can on him, and hopefully we’ll be able to track him down. Do you know much about him? Any properties he has? Or anything that can help?”
Finn thinks it over for a moment before adamantly shaking his head. “I was too young to even really know him. I’m certain Sloane won’t recognize him. The only reason I thought of him in the first place was because my dad was certain he’d come back one day and want to take everything from him.”
“You know we’re going to kill your uncle when we find him, right? I don’t give a fuck if he’s your family. He thought he could go after our family—he won’t live after that,” I say, needing Finn to know we’re not fucking around about this.
He meets my eyes dead on and a smirk curls his lips. “Sure, you can kill him, as long as I get a go at him first.”
I raise a brow, and he returns the gesture before sighing. “Sloane is one of the most important people in my life,” he says and takes a shuddering breath. “She’s my sister. My twin. She’s my only family and I’ll be damned if I let someone hurt her and live, blood relative or not.”
“Great. Now that we’re on the same page, can we find this asshole and put him in the ground while we rescue our siblings? I’d like to get home to my family,” Enzo mutters before taking Izzy’s arm and dragging her over to the desk so they can sit and look through whatever she finds on her computer.
Usually, Alec would be here to help, too, but he’s on a business trip in the UK. He offered to fly back over to help out, but we told him we’re okay for now and that we’ll reach out if we need him.
Finn and his friend head out, leaving the rest of us to dig up as much info as possible. Izzy and Enzo are still sitting at the desk, him no doubt chatting her ear off, but my dad is still sitting on the sofa, hunched over with his head in his hands.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my dad like this, and it’s fucking worrying.
I approach him slowly and take a seat on the coffee table so I’m in front of him.
“You okay?”
He lifts his head to look at me and runs a hand down his face as he lets out a sigh.
“It’s my fault this asshole has your brother. We should’ve figured it out sooner, we could’ve prevented this,” he mutters, but I’m already shaking my head before the words even leave his mouth.
“It’s not your fault. They’ll get through this, and they’ll be okay. It’s no good focusing on what we could have done differently, what we need to do is put our heads together and find them.”
“You’re right. I just fucking hate that we don’t know if they’re okay, what if—”
“No what ifs,” I interrupt. “We’ve got this, Dad. They’re coming home.”
Even if it’s the last thing I do, I will bring my brother and his girl home.
